Revelation is apocolyptic literature, much like Daniel, and borrows a lot from Daniel, including the imagery of beasts.

In Daniel, the beasts were symbolizing kingdoms. A bear would be one kingdom, a leopard another kingdom, etc.

In Revelation, we have a beast that is composed of many animals and it is empowered by the dragon. So instead of being one particular kingdom, it's likely symbolizing satanically influenced political structures in general.

I'm not saying it's impossible. I just saying that since John is drawing from Daniel, where each particular beast represents a particular kingdom, that when John describes a composite of many beasts it follows that this creature represents a composite of many kingdoms.

It's a waste of time teaching it to the unconverted "Christians" who make up a good chunk of church-goers. Avoiding fornication is often impossible or incomprehensible to the natural man.

But anyone who is born again loves Christ and desires to obey Him. Not only will they be eager to please Him, they will have the aid of the Holy Spirit to help them do it. Teaching these people how to obey Christ is never a lost cause.

I had severe depression for several years. Even with consistent treatment, it sucked. It harmed my body, my career, my relationships. I'm still trying to cope with the fallout. But it didn't harm my faith.

My faith wasn't based on a feeling of God’s presence. So if I felt God, cool. If not, no matter. My faith wasn't based on answered prayers. If God granted my requests, nice. If not, I trust that He knows best.

My faith is based on who Christ is, what He said, and what He did. I know that is all true no matter how I'm feeling. It was true before my time of testing and it will be true after.

I know I can trust my Father to only allow whatever pain or testing He sees fit to train me and make me more like Christ. I know the suffering isn't meaningless as long as I'm facing it in trust and obedience to Him. Many before me have been through this and worse and have proven that God is faithful. Even if the test lasts for a lifetime, life is momentary and the benefits of faithful endurance are eternal.

This is a very, very helpful answer. Thank you for that. I truly don’t expect or feel owed a response by God, truly. And yet, I do feel fast adrift because I struggle to feel His peace. Does that make sense? Like, I lack the peace that comes from trusting in God’s purpose, His character, etc.

There have been a lot of times where I literally have to just remind myself what is true because what I'm feeling isn't true. When the world, your flesh, and the devil are all lying to you, you need to set yourself straight. Look at how Jesus responded to lies and temptation. His response was: "But God says...."

So, sometimes you might have to just tell yourself, even out loud, "the world says X, but God says Y". Or "my flesh says X, but God says Y".

Maybe that will influence your feelings, maybe not. But at least you can get your head in the right place.

You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

That Psalm describes God's supervision and protection of the righteous man. It especially refers to Christ, the uniquely righteous man. Satan recognized that, which is why he appealed to another verse in that same passage (verses 11 and 12) when he was trying to tempt Jesus:

Luke 4:9-11 Then the devil led Him to Jerusalem and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple. “If You are the Son of God,” he said, “throw Yourself down from here. For it is written: ‘He will command His angels concerning You to guard You carefully; and they will lift You up in their hands, so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’"

In Luke 10:19 Jesus is sending the disciples out as His agents to spread His message and is saying that the promises of divine supervision and protection that applied to Him will apply to them as well since they are acting on His authority.

Let's see what Paul, the champion of the "faith, not works" crowd has to say:

Galatians 5:6 In Christ Jesus the only thing that matters is faith working through love.

And for those who consider that Paul preaches a gospel of grace vs. obedience, let's see what else he has to say:

Titus 2:11-12 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men and instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age.

You apparently dont realize that conservative christians can be just as loving, kind, and generous as the progressive christians you describe. And liberal christians can be just as militant, intolerant, and out of touch with reality as the conservatives you describe. There are good people and awful people on both sides.

They can be, sure, but the ideologies themselves lead to certain types of people being drawn to them. Conservativism is closed, selfish, and outdated, while liberalism is more open, tolerant, and progressive. I think liberal philosophy aligns much more closely to the teachings of Jesus, which is what Christianity is supposed to be based on